Starting from Scratch: Oldonyo Village, Monduli

So often development workers within Maasai communities cite intransigent patriarchal attitudes as barriers to gender equality and progress. In northern Tanzania's Monduli district, one Maasai community is defying this adage and re-defining cultural dynamics in the most unique way- starting from scratch.

The village of Oldonyo in Monduli District looks well-established. The local governance buildings are well-kept permanent structures, the roads are maintained and signposted, and local homes look established and settled. You would never guess that this village has technically only existed for just over two years.

In truth, while people have inhabited the area for many years, the actual village of Oldonyo is a newly formed one. Initially a sub-village of Lokisale, in recent years the area population expanded so greatly that by 2014 the community justified recognition as a village in its own right.​Formal recognition of new villages is not uncommon in this part of Tanzania. What makes Oldonyo unique however, is the fascinating approach taken by the local community in establishing their independence.

Oldonyo village traditional leader Loomoni Kitusu has been recognised as a leader within the local community since 2011. Like most people in Oldonyo, Loomoni is not from this area originally, but moved here from another village in Monduli District in 2004. He says that most of the people now living in this new community have arrived in the last decade in search of open, healthy pasture to graze their livestock.

As a traditional leader Loomoni was chosen by existing elders in the area, selected due to his community activity and natural leadership skills.​​“I was chosen as a traditional leader because I have a history of conflict resolution among people in this area, and also because I am a community-minded person who has provided aid and assistance in the past to those who need it. For example, during times of drought I have secured and provided food to families in need” Loomoni says.

As a long-standing representative of the people in the Oldonyo area, Loomoni has played an integral role in the development and formalisation of the new village. He says that from the moment opportunity arose for Oldonyo to become independent, there was a vision among the people for a community of equality that was collectively led by the people, for the people.

“We knew that our strength as a village would lie in our ability to have strong leadership. Therefore the first task for the local community was to elect a village council” Loomoni recalls.

One of the first new leaders to emerge was Oldonyo Village Chairman Kerika Marton.

“A Village Council is like the parliament of our community. As this is a new village in a new Ward there is lots to be done. The village council is responsible for making the decisions that lead our development. Firstly we needed to progress infrastructure. We need hospitals and schools. Social services will ensure our people are healthy, our livestock is healthy, and our community will thrive” he says.

Representatives of the Oldonyo Village Council

Village Executive Officer, Lottha Lucas, agrees with Kerika.

“The first thing we did was design a calendar for meetings. We must be innovative and creative to establish projects that will assist the development of the village and wellbeing of our people. One example is a school we are currently building. As a council we propose projects and ideas to the people at the Village General Assemblies and they vote and approve the activities” says Lottha.

“Next, we need to survey the village and establish a Land Use Plan. We need to understand the boundaries of our village so that we know our area of responsibility and can make plans to use the resources responsibly and efficiently. This is where UCRT comes in.”

Loomoni says that historically Oldonyo village has faced three main issues:

“As a growing community we have always struggled with boundary conflicts with other villages in the area. This is closely linked with the competition for natural resources. We face issues of food security and a lack of water. UCRT are helping us to address these issues in a number of ways. They have worked in this area since 2015, providing education to our leaders and community members on land laws and natural resource management practices. They have also assisted us to secure our land legally” he says.

A UCRT field officer meets with Loomoni

UCRT’s intervention in the Oldonyo area is part of a larger approach by a collective of local community organisations, the Northern Tanzania Rangelands Initiative (NTRI). These organisations came together in 2015 to work in the Oldonyo and surrounding area with a mutli-faceted approach to solving the broader issues of community development, environmental protection and sustainability, and food security.​“UCRT has provided our leaders with training on conflict resolution by informing us of our rights and our legal obligations and assisting us to establish councils to respond to issues. After the initial training, the Village council and Ward council came together to identify conflicts arising from boundary issues and to agree and inform the community of the correct area boundaries” says Loomoni.​The sheer volume of boundary conflicts requiring resolution led the council to establish a Village Land Tribunal in 2016.

“Issues of land security have been our biggest challenge to overcome so far. We have experienced boundary conflicts with other villages, as well as conflicts between individuals. The community were bringing these issues to the village council to resolve. Now we are trying to proactively anticipate potential conflicts with other villages, and work with neighbouring councils to manage these. This is where the Village Land Tribunal can provide dedicated leadership” explains Village Council member Philamon Lekusia.

Sikit Kibariki is one of the founding members of the Oldonyo Village Land Tribunal.​“The Village Land Tribunal operates like a court system, representing the people and the village at Ward and District government levels to resolve conflict and advocate for community needs. As the community is growing more aware of this Tribunal, increasingly our authority and role in conflict resolution is recognised, and so too is support for our work” Sikit explains.

Now that the Oldonyo village council and land tribunal are equipped to independently deal with conflicts, Loomoni says the focus is on addressing the natural resource scarcity in the area.

“UCRT are now assisting with our water and food security issues by teaching us to establish grazing calendars and byelaws that organise our pastoralists and ensure time for land regeneration.

“Undertaking LUP will not only help to resolve conflict, but also set up our village environment to serve community needs. We need to act quickly to establish good land use practices and to end conflicts while the new village is still settling. Currently, people are not complying with water catchment rules or grazing patterns. To combat this we are beginning to establish byelaws so that we can enforce the positive LUP practices that will ensure our environmental sustainability” he says.

“This is a difficult time of change in the land and weather here, and also population expansion. If we hope to have a long and positive future for Oldonyo, we must make good decisions to look after the land so that it in turn will provide for our community. We have already made great progress, and I hope that in the future we will see an end to conflicts entirely through increased information and understanding of the issues and the laws within the community."

One resounding resolution by the leaders of Oldonyo that they believe set them apart from other villages is the emphasis on information-sharing and full disclosure with everyone in the community.

“Transparency is a big concern for us. It is important that our discussions and decisions are communicated to the whole community so that everyone feels part of the progress and everyone understands the changes. This will help to reduce future conflicts” says Village Land Tribunal Member, Baraka Turre.

“Making sure that everyone in the area is aware of and understands the issues we face and potential opportunities for resolution has helped to establish trust in the decisions of the village leadership. Having traditional leaders on the council has also helped the community and local government to trust and respect our work, so we are able to make progress quickly and get straight to work” he says.

Another exceptional way the village leadership have ensured information sharing at all levels of the community is through the involvement and empowerment of the women of Oldonyo.

A Women’s Rights and Leadership Forum (WRLF) was established in Oldonyo in 2016 as a means to unite and empower women in the community to participate in the village establishment and development as well as proactively resolve issues of gender equality. ​

WRLF members Esther Edward and Namayani Lucas see the WRLF as an important platform for Oldonyo women to establish themselves as village citizens equal to the men, in line with the community’s original vision for Oldonyo.

“We have established this forum to wake up and recognise the rights of women in this village. We need to work as an organ to bring women together to address all of our womens rights, together as a community” Namayani says.​“There was a concept for this group before, but we were not sure how to begin. When UCRT came to the village they gave us training on how to establish ourselves as a strong collective. We had the idea, but UCRT gave us the helping hand.”

The WRLF currently comprises 24 women members. Men are not formally permitted as members, but Namayani says the forum encourages men to be involved in discussions and attend meetings.

“In particular we involve male youth in our meetings as participants who can act as neutral mediators in discussions, and help to provide fair and impartial feedback between men and women” she says.

Village Executive Officer Lottha has been impressed by the two-way support and communication of the WRLF and village leadership.“The WRLF invite us as village leaders to participate in their meetings. It is important that we work together as we have shared goals for the wellbeing of the community. We have supported the WRLF to obtain a bank account and financial management systems to enable their activities” Lottha says.

Namayani and Esther credit successful outcomes of the WRLF to the support and engagement of the village leaders.

“This is a new village. Before we were a sub-village, and during that time women were entirely left out of discussions and meetings. Maasai men have traditionally believed that women are just for looking after the husbands and children. But now our men see us as more – they see we have a voice and we have value in discussions and meetings” Namayani says.

“It is the UCRT training that has changed this view. Now that men understand that legally we women have the same rights as men, our new village policies and plans are being established to recognise this.”Ether says achieving support from their husbands has been critical to progress already made by the WRLF.“In the past many of us women had issues individually securing support from our men. But now that we are united and have support at the village level, our individual husbands are recognising us too” she says.“We meet every second Thursday and the men here make sure we are available and free to attend the meetings.

“Already we are establishing ourselves economically by pooling our funds for collective use. Each woman in the WRLF has contributed 5,000 TSH which we have retained as emergency funds to assist women in need. These emergency funds will assist women victims of domestic violence, provide aid for those in severe financial need, and bridge the gap in school fees for any children in the village.​“In the future we will begin to invest in small businesses to help us achieve economic stability” Esther says.

Maintaining close communication with and support from village leadership has also ensure swift progression toward gender equality within Oldonyo village.

“The WRLF has already helped many women to receive their own plots of land. Our achievements in securing this land is due to the support of the local council. From the beginning of the council being established they have assigned the land completely equally between men and women” says Esther.

When challenged about these significant departures from traditional maasai attitude, both the men and women leaders of Oldonyo reinforce that these are not changes in culture, but merely in practices. Each believe the concept of communal equality exists within maasai culture, but that it has been the ability to ‘start from scratch’ with a new village, new council, new byelaws and – crucially – open available land that has afforded the Oldonyo community the unique opportunity to achieve gender equality.

“This change in women’s power and voice is positive. It is not changing our culture, it is just enabling women to contribute to our existing culture in a more equal way” Namayani says.

“I see that now women in Oldonyo are coming up, and men are accepting this.”

Esther adds that establishing the village from the beginning with a shared vision has also enabled the most positive aspects of their maasai culture to come to the forefront.

“In the area before, when we were a sub-village, it was a mixed village of pastoralists, business people and farmers all sharing the land. When Oldonyo became our own village, we became a group of pastoralists only. As pastoralists we are all dependent on the land, and we all have the same needs and wants of the land. In that way it has been easy from the beginning to reach agreement on how to distribute and use our natural resources. We are all working toward the same goals” she says.

Still, both women recognise that their village is unique in their community approach and each count themselves lucky to have equal opportunities as men within Oldonyo. Namayani in particular is thankful to their progressive local leadership.

“We thank god that our new village has been established with such worthy leaders who are fair and forward-thinking. They are enabling great progress for women’s rights, which in turn benefits the whole community.”